A non-commercial guide to organic gardening in the mid-Atlantic states, with some specifics to central Virginia..and some information applicable across the country! Or to other time zones! Across the seas! Who knew?
"No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden." Thomas Jefferson

Central Virginia Organic Gardener

"And 'tis my faith that every flower enjoys the air it breathes." - William Wordsworth, 1798

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Gardening Versus Landscaping

I have been checking out garden books for winter book reviews, settling on several books with "easy" in the title or description (a sign of age?). These books have reminded me of the distinction between what I like to do- gardening- versus landscaping. Many books about gardening are really about landscaping and follow the "House Beautiful" model, that is, the model that purports to show the reader how to achieve perfection, when it is really about cultivating desire. Now there is plenty of desire in the type of gardening I do (mostly to eat perfectly ripe and exquisitely tasty produce, but also to feed and nourish the bees, birds, butterflies and souls who see it), but this desire is not about comparison to neighbors or achieving "Martha" perfection. I do not do landscaping, I garden. I garden for the sheer pleasure of planting and watching the plants grow, for eating that luscious tomato or raspberry, for getting my hands in the dirt and my face in the sun. To me, landscaping is more static- creating some relatively stable group of plants, that are chosen for durability and set along the foundation or in and island bed. Gardening is far less controlled, and contains many more surprises (some good, some not) and allows for greater spontaneity. Above are two photos- the front yard when we moved in: it looked like every yard in the subdivision. The house had a boring lawn, a large pine tree and foundation shrubs. The next photo is the controlled chaos 8 years later. You decide which you like better.That's all for now. Next week I will write about dealing with winter storm damage on trees and shrubs. Happy gardening!

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Garden Quotes

"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need." Cicero

"The only thing two gardeners agree on is that the third is wrong." Mike McGrath

" If you’ve never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom.” Audra Foveo

"The love of gardening is a seed that once sown never dies" G. Jekyll

"What I like about gardening is that it makes a mockery of intentions" Mirabel Osler

"The best place to find God is in the garden. You can dig for him there." George Bernard Shaw

"A familiar irony of horticulture is that gardeners desire plants that are the most difficult to obtain." Judith Sumner, 2004

"A traveller should be a botanist, for in all views plants form the chief embellishment." Ch. Darwin, 1839

"How fair is a garden amid the trials and passions of existance" Benjamin Disraeli, 1845

"Nobody sees a flower really; it is so small. We haven't time, and to see takes time - like to have a friend takes time." Georgia O'Keeffe

"If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change" Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama), 5th Century B.C.E.

"Whatsoever whether great or small ugly or handsom sweet or stinking... everything in the universe appears beautifull to mee." John Bartram, 1740

"In my examination of orchids, hardly any fact has so much struck me as the endless diversity of structure for gaining the very same end, namely, the fertilization of one flower by the pollen of another." Charles Darwin

"Who has ever dreamed of finding an utilitarian purpose in the forms and colours of flowers?" Thomas Huxley

"When I observe the fate of Botanists, upon my word I doubt whether to call them sane or mad in their devotion to plants" Linnaeus 1737

About Me

I am a 50-something mother of one involved in all sorts of pursuits, from gardening to crafting to botanical illustration and I teach part time at a local University. I believe in organic as a method and way of life and making and growing things as a way to keep me happy!